New staff — The Royals have a new head coach and three new assistants. Strunk, an assistant at Maple Grove for six years, succeeds Tim Marchand, who coached the Royals in their first 10 seasons.

New challenge — Rogers moves up a class this year, playing in Section 5AA against NWSC teams.

Coach says — “We’ve got good, talented, hardworking kids with high character. Our strengths are team speed, returning our top forwards, and some very good two-way defensemen.

Outlook — Four all-conference players return from a 12-13-2 team, all of them scorers: Weber (16 goals), Brown (14), Lorman (12) and Marchand (8), along with Cecil (10 goals). This should be a solid team, but with a tougher schedule and section, too.